Ann Murray Is a Bigot And So Am I, Redux: The Black Dyke Speaks

​(This is a continuation of a similarly-named story, which may be found here.)

My ex band-mate, the Bishop S.F. Makalani-MaHee, belongs to just about every put-upon minority in modern America. She's a musician, first of all, which naturally raises the suspicions of the world's decent people. And she's female. And black. And a dyke. (I feel comfortable using that word because when we used to play in bars together, our most popular song began with the line: "I am a black dyke.") Also: she's very short, wears glasses, and serves has served as an out queer minister in several Christian churches. Through her music, her leadership of Black Gay Pride, and her work with youth and more community non-profits than even she can rightly remember, Bish has been one of diversity's loudest and most colorful advocates in SoFla. So I wanted to get her thoughts on the Ann Murray flap, which frankly confuses the hell out of me.

Follow The Juice on Facebook and on Twitter: @TheJuiceBPB.Me: So, Bish -- what's up with everybody wanting Ann Murray fired? Shouldn't we have compassion when somebody's tongue slips?

Bish:
Compassion, sure. But what comes out of the mouth ... very often
reflects something, what's going on deep inside. Talking about Ann
Murray, two things come to mind. One: You don't take certain jobs that
hold you to a higher standard if you
can't live up to that. Two -- what was the context in which this was
said? ... To have said what she said while on the job, in diverse
company, doesn't just suggest racism; it suggests a real lack of
propriety.

And propriety's important, too.

Mhmm.

But you, or me, or anybody -- don't we all make racist or classist or whatever comments from time to time?

Sure.
Everyone's a little bit racist,
sometimes. Absolutely true! But then I think -- there's certain
positions, and certain professions, that those types of character
defects
cannot be permissible in. But it's not a question of: "Do we have the
ability to fight through our racism?" I think it's an issue of: "Do we
have the desire?"

Because this is tricky stuff. We shouldn't paint with broad strokes.
Going with broad strokes, you become just as guilty as the offender,
because in painting in broad strokes we don't make room for
exceptions. Painting with broad strokes, we go to zero tolerance --
like, racist rhetoric is unconscionable and intolerable under any
circumstances ...

And it's not. I'm sure the people
condemning Ms. Murray have made racist statements before -- you have,
too, I bet, said something bad about white people. But there's some kind
of difference.

When black people make racist comments, it's
often as a response to racism -- it's not "I don't like white people,"
it's "I don't like white people because they don't like black people."
Which is dangerous.

But it's not just the saying of something racist. It's --

It's the situation you're in. What you said, why you said it, where you said it ... And if you're in public service, meant to
uphold the rights and dignities of every citizen, I don't have a problem
with someone going, "You know, these are the people whose tax dollars
are paying your salary." Some of these people voted for you.
They're your bosses, and you badmouthed them. You deserve to be fired.

I think the position I'm coming around to, vis a vis
Ann Murray, isn't that the problem is her being racist. The problem is
that, saying what she did with no emotional impetus, out in the open
air, in mixed company -- it's that, okay, she's bigoted, so are we all,
but she's not even fighting her bigotry. It seems like she just accepted it.

Yes, exactly. The desire to fight one's own bigotry has got to be spurred by a confrontation with
that supremacist, superior feeling in oneself. If one is not willing to
confront and deny that superiority, there's not going to be the
willingness to fight those feelings. Because, in the mind of
a supremacist, those feelings are valid.